Sound — 9
I play alot of Grunge, Punk, Rock, Metal etc and this guitar is very versatile. I'm still tweaking my pedals and amps to get the perfect tone for it but the humbucker matched with a single coil gives you the best of both worlds! Its nice and heavy when playing on the humbucker and nice and twangy when using the neck pick up! As with most single coils, it gets really noisy if you run it with heavy distortion but it handles slight overdrive really well, suiting it for bluesy playing and even some classic rock! I'm running it through a Randall RG75G3 with a DigiTech RP-55 and a Boss OS-2, but seeing as I have only had it for just under a week, I haven't found my favorite tone for it yet.

Overall Impression — 10
For my styles of music, this is a perfect match. I'm a huge fan of Grunge music, and in particular Nirvana, so it was a pretty obvious choice. I've been playing for nearly 5 years and this is my first Fender and I'm quite happy with it, I plan on getting more Fender guitars further down the track. It there is one thing this guitar had, it would had to have had a case come with it. When I ordered it they had no cases instock to fit it so I just got them to triple box it with extra padding and it made it here fine. I just don't like the fact that Fender Australia stung me $240 for a case! If this thing was stolen, I'd find the guy who took it, and hit him on the head with the butt end like Kurt did at one show, except he wont be swinging back at me. If it broke down on me, I'd either get it repaired or replace it for sure! I've never played any other Mustangs so I can't really compare it to the re-issues or the vintages ones, but I'd probably love all Mustangs because of this one! I wish it also had standard Fender tuners as the Vintage ones aren't as easy to fine tune with! This guitar is definitely worth the money and its a very versatile axe!

Reliability & Durability — 8
I haven't been in a band for ages but if I did start gigging in one, this guitar could defiantly stand up to the job! The hardware is all top notch, but as with all my guitars, I prefer strap locks over stock strap buttons, just to be on the safe side. It can definitely be used without a back up but I always take another guitar, seeing as I have a guitar more geared for metal loaded with EMG's. It seems like it has a nice thick finish and I plan on wearing through it as I don't plan on selling it any time soon!

Action, Fit & Finish — 9
When I got the guitar out of the box, it was perfectly set up (even though it had come half way across the world to Australia from the USA) I needed to raise the neck pick up a tad just to get the volume nearly the same as the humbucker, which I can't see as being possible considering a single coils output is a bit less than that of a humbucker, but I've got it relatively close to even. The action was nice and low and it plays very fast because of the short scale neck (24"). Nothing was loose when I received it and there was not an imperfection or scratch anywhere to be found!

Features — 9
I'm actually reviewing the Kurt Cobain Mustang in Sonic Blue. It was made in Japan in the same factory as Kurt's actual Mustangs he got made for him. It has 22 Vintage frets with a rosewood fretboard and a maple neck. Its an Alder body, not poplar like the 65' re-issues. The finish is superb and the colour is awesome! It has your typical Fender Dynamic Vibrato featured on most Mustangs nowadays. I've only used it a few times seeing as I have only had it a week and with the new strings it sends it straight out of tune. It also has a Fender designed tune-o-matic bridge for more stable tuning and it has the Vintage tuners to match. Electronic wise it has a Seymour Duncan JB humbucker in the bridge and a Mustang Single coil in the neck. It has recessed slider so when your strumming hard it is harder to hit them and shut the whole guitar down by accident.

It's like $30 more than the '65 re-issues were going for. That's not bad given the stripe, the countour, the recessed switches, the non-Fender bridge, and the humbucker.
Of course it goes out of tune when you use the whammy. In addition to having them swap bridges, he had his techs immobilize the trems 'cause he hated whammy bars. That bridge wasn't made for tremolo. He also had them flip the tailpiece so that the strings would go straight through instead of wrapping underneath.
Even a real Mustang won't hold tune well after use; expect this one to be worse.
It probably was setup perfectly. That's one of the best advantages to buying from Sweetwater. They know what they're doing and they do inspect and set up every guitar they sell.
As for the case, Mustangs don't fit in 99% of "universal" cases. Ironically, the neck sticks out up to a couple of inches past where others do and the upper horn is too big. So unless you want to keep it in a bass case, you gotta shell out for the Fender Mustang case. Mine cost me $180 US about a year ago.
Don't know what renrie's talking about WRT not available for lefties. Maybe not where he/she lives, but it is for sure in the US.

I know that my Mustang and Duo Sonic both fit in my Tele case beautifully. Also my Mustang is one of the new Squier ones, and it actually arrived to me almost perfectly setup with only a minor adjustment needed on the low E saddle, and funny thing is I got it from guitar center.

No wonder you gave it all tens.
This is a hideous looking guitar (especially in Sonic blue), that is over priced and is Fender's way of squeezing a little more profit out of some dead dude's name. For the price you paid, it's hardly going to be the greatest guitar going. Really bad review.
All tens reviews should be saved for things like replica frankenstrats and the like.

The weird thing is that it isn't also made for left handed players :S, Curt Cobain was a lefty, and the "guitar style" (mustang) is highly wanted.
Nice guitar , but it's a shame it isn't available for lefty's

Righto guys, seeing as your hating on me for giving a guitar perfect 10's let me try and get some of this crap cleared up. I have since worked on the vibrato system AND to the wanker who said to not touch the tremelo bar, you obviously did read the fact it had new string on it, so of course its gonna go out of tune. Sure i should have reviewed it within week of owning, but i have seen absolutely no reviews what so ever from you guys. So before having a stab at me for what i think is a great guitar, play it for yourself. Quit being keyboard warriors.

LOL! I just got a warning from UG for posting a simple "i like the guitar" on this article. They say it's spam. I mean come on, wtf? Is there any other way to express that I played it once in the shop, I liked the handling, the sound, the colour, I just liked the guitar. I don't know what kind of people are moderators at UG and let comments like "kurt cobain would hate this" just be as they are, but give warnings and threats to close an account for thinking this guitars a cool one.

Itsooz wrote:
Funny thing is, Kurt himself has never played guitars this expensive..

OK, so adjusted for inflation, you think the custom Mustangs Fender built just for him for the In Utero tour didn't cost more than $1000? Or the one-off Jagstang didn't cost more? Hell, he smashed vintage Fenders that cost more than this. Sure, he smashed a lot of cheap Fernandez and MIM Fender Strats, but when he lost control he smashed some really nice Stangs and Jags, too.

I got me one of these 'cause Fender hasn't made regular lefty Mustangs for the US market in 17 years, and I didn't want to pay $1,500.00 for a Japanese import. If you like 24" scale guitars you might like these.
Why they decided to include the "Dynamic Vibrato" with a tune-o-matic bridge is just stupid, whether the Grunge King had one on his guitar or not. Speaking of the bridge, its one of those skinny cheesy cheapo TOM's with the little metal brackets holding the saddles in. Thanks for the high value for the money Fender. Phucking capitalists.

The simple thing is that if you Americans keep abusing anyone who writes a review you don't agree with then there ain't gonna be any reviews for you to spit out your vile abuse on. Grow up! You don't like his review so ask him why he gave it what he did... don't write a load of abusive rubbish. And, one last thing, get over the fact he gave it tens; he obviously loves the guitar and isn't that the point of owning them???

Finally, someone who sees the purpose of a review. Its personal, and not written to make everyone happy. draw from what information you need from it. If you buy a guitar based on a few little ratings, you must have some serious issues.

Itsooz wrote:
Funny thing is, Kurt himself has never played guitars this expensive..

Incorrect. Cobain had several vintage-era guitars that he treasured. His modified Nervermind-era Jaguar was from 1965 and wasn't a cheap guitar when he got it.
Sure he was rough with some of them, and he played cheap stuff he knew he was going to trash and the end of the set - but he valued his quality gear.

Marnz wrote:
I generally stretch my strings every restring, and i didnt know how long the strings had been on the guitar, but i dont really think that my review should be written off because i gave some parts perfect 10s. Ive never played a frankenstrat or what ever the other guys were going on about, ive only played lower end guitars in my small lifetime as a guitarist. I believe i have some credible information in that review. Sure i may have botched up a few numbers, but would a few numbers make this review useless? Im not directing this soley at you but im quite disappointed that some people have to find some small detail and try and derail my review. I guess the forum trolls gotta find something to bag out.

Dude, learn from it and move on. Quit fighting the people on your side.

A Kurt Cobain custom guitar? That's my favorite rockstar anyway so color me interested in this one, 10's or no 10's. Thanks for reviewing something I'm interested in, btw. I too am broke as a joke and my most valuable guitar is an old vintage 50's Guild that needs to be fixed, so the nicest thing I currently play is probably my Jackson that's valued somewhere around $400-600. Yep, I'm not ashamed. If I weren't interested in this or didn't like it, I wouldn't comment; manners, people, manners. But keep in mind saying it's a problem with Americans is just about as ignorant as the people saying things in the first place.

I generally stretch my strings every restring, and i didnt know how long the strings had been on the guitar, but i dont really think that my review should be written off because i gave some parts perfect 10s. Ive never played a frankenstrat or what ever the other guys were going on about, ive only played lower end guitars in my small lifetime as a guitarist. I believe i have some credible information in that review. Sure i may have botched up a few numbers, but would a few numbers make this review useless? Im not directing this soley at you but im quite disappointed that some people have to find some small detail and try and derail my review. I guess the forum trolls gotta find something to bag out.

You internet thugs are soooo tough.
When are you going to realize that a rating of "10" means "great" not "perfect", you morons are pathetic. Any one that would buy a guitar based on a review is just dumb anyway. So why are you so upset if you don't like the review? You would or wouldn't buy this guitar based on the review? Stupidness.....

cooper1965 wrote:
You internet thugs are soooo tough.
When are you going to realize that a rating of "10" means "great" not "perfect", you morons are pathetic. Any one that would buy a guitar based on a review is just dumb anyway. So why are you so upset if you don't like the review? You would or wouldn't buy this guitar based on the review? Stupidness.....

And just because i rate the guitar with perfect 10's doesnt make the information i give invalid. Draw from what information you need, and if you have any issues or problems regarding tremelo arms and inotation etc etc go play it in a shop and find out for yourselves. Atleast you Americans actually can actually go try this guitar instore. It isnt even in Australia yet.

@ Marnz
You'll come across as more credible when you learn that new strings need to be stretched on any guitar to attain tuning stability whether you use a trem or not. You're not really done with a string change until you can tug on the strings without them going flat.
Don't feel bad; I've seen a lot of "pros" in national touring bands struggle with this too on big stages. And no, it's not just a matter of getting slack out of the windings--same thing happens with locking tuners or a locking nut--new strings just need to be stretched enough in order to stay in tune.
I don't know why anyone wouldn't stretch the strings on a brand new guitar before they even started playing it after getting it home, unless they just didn't know better.